In a renewed effort to tackle corruption head-long in Nigeria, anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria will this week embark on a three-day retreat in Lagos under the European Union-funded support to anti-corruption in Nigeria project being implemented by the Union Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The retreat is to enable them to take stock of their activities and agree on new strategies to combat corruption in the country.
Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The three-day retreat is holding after the last one was held in Kaduna five years ago. The heads of agencies will discuss critical issues and challenges facing their agencies, such as shrinking funds, challenges with investigation and prosecution including legislative and operational gaps, recovery and handling of recovered assets, safe reporting and protection for whistleblowers, corruption prevention, research and policy, and other issues.
Also expected as a major outcome of the retreat is an updated statement of commitment towards increased cooperation and collaboration among the agencies.
A number of developments have emerged in the anti-corruption agenda since the retreat of 2010. For instance, Corruption Risk Assessments have taken place in the Nigerian Sea Ports and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) related MDAs of Water, Health and Education. Working Groups on Asset Recovery and Management, Investigation and Prosecution, Research and Policy and Prevention and Safe Reporting have now been set up and commenced meetings towards ensuring the necessary cooperation and synergy.
The retreat is jointly being organised by UNODC in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT), the coordinating forum of agencies with anti-corruption and accountability mandates, through its secretariat, the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR).
Three scientists from Japan, China and Ireland whose discoveries led to the development of potent new drugs against parasitic diseases, including malaria and elephantiasis, won the Nobel Prize for Medicineon Monday.
Left to right: Satoshi Omura, Tu Youyou and William C. Campbell. Photo credit: arabnews.com
Irish-born William Campbell and Japan’s Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis or elephantiasis.
China’s Tu Youyou was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease.
Youyou is China’s first Nobel laureate in medicine.
Some 3.4 billion people, most of them living in poor countries, are at risk of contracting the three parasitic diseases.
“These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said.
“The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”
Today, the medicine ivermectin, a derivative of avermectin made by Merck & Co, is used worldwide to fight roundworm parasites, while artemisinin-based drugs from firms, including Novartis and Sanofi, are the main weapons against malaria.
Omura and Campbell made their breakthrough in fighting parasitic worms, or helminths, after studying compounds from soil bacteria.
That led to the discovery of avermectin, which was then further modified into ivermectin.
The treatment is so successful that river blindness and lymphatic filariasis are now on the verge of being eradicated.
Omura, 80, said the real credit for the achievement should go to the ingenuity of the Streptomyces bacteria, whose naturally occurring chemicals were so effective at killing off parasites.
“I really wonder if I deserve this,” he said after learning he had won the prize.
“I have done all my work depending on microbes and learning from them, so I think the microbes might almost deserve it more than I do.”
Omura is professor emeritus at Kitasato University in Japan, while Campbell is research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
“This was the work of a team of researchers so it is by no means my work, it’s our work,” said Campbell, 85, who learned of his prize in a pre-dawn phone call from Reuters that woke him at his home in North Andover, Massachusetts.
“In the first decade, there were 70 authors that I co-authored papers with. That gives you some idea of the number of people involved,” he said.
Tu, meanwhile, turned to a traditional Chinese herbal medicine in her hunt for a better malaria treatment, following the declining success of the older drugs chloroquine and quinine.
She found that an extract from the plant Artemisia annua was sometimes effective but the results were inconsistent, so she went back to ancient literature, including a recipe from AD 350, in the search for clues.
This eventually led to the isolation of artemisinin, a new class of anti-malaria drug, which was available in China before it reached the West.
Tu, 84, has worked at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1965.
The World Health Organisation spokesman, Gregory Hartl, said the award of a Nobel prize for the discovery was a great tribute to the contribution of Chinese science in fighting malaria.
“We now have drugs that kill these parasites very early in their life-cycle,” said Juleen Zierath, chair of the Nobel Committee.
“They not only kill these parasites but they stop these infections from spreading.”
Death rates from malaria have plunged 60 percent in the past 15 years, although the disease still kills around half a million people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in the poorest parts of Africa.
The eight million Swedish crowns ($960,000) medicine prize is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year.
Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.
Last year, the medicine prize went to three scientists who discovered the brain’s inner navigation system.
The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) on Mondaysealed the Lagos-based Nigerian Aluminium Extrusions Limited (NIGALEX) for violation of environmental laws.
Director-General, National Environmental Standard & Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Dr. Lawrence Anukam. Photo credit: dailypost.ng
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that NIGALEX, established in 1973 at Oshodi, Lagos, has a workforce that has since been contributing immensely to Nigeria’s economic and industrial growth.
The company has relevant modern cutting-edge technology and has over the years emerged as the leading producer of high quality aluminium products in West Africa.
The Head of NESREA’s enforcement, Kolawole Gbenga, told NAN during the sealing that the company was served numerous violation and abatement notices prior to the exercise.
Gbenga said the agency had discovered that some companies and facilities were into the production of different products without protecting the environment.
He said: “Today, we have come to seal this company that is involved in the production of metallic products (iron rods).
“It has not been complying with some relevant environmental laws such as the disposal of their waste and untreated effluents.
“We are expected to manage the environment and not to destroy it.
“If we must site a company, we are expected to follow and comply with relevant laws put in place to protect the integrity of the environment.
“We have issued compliance notice thrice.
“Also, we issued two abatement notices as warning, but the facility owners failed to comply and we have no option than to apply the law.”
Gbenga said the company was expected to correct the anomalies before the unsealing by the agency.
The Lagos State Coordinator of NESREA, Nosa Aigbedion, said the warning notices were served to the company on June 11, 2014 after the first inspection by the agency.
Aigbedion said the company was further instructed to install an effluents treatment plant, which had not been installed.
He said: “The company has failed to comply with environmental laws by not having an Environmental Impact assessment certificate and non-submission of Environmental Audit Report to NESREA.
“We have applied the carrot and it is time to apply the stick.
“We conducted the first inspection in 2014 and till date no action has been taken to mitigate the concerns and we have a duty to ensure the environment is clean and safe for all.
“There is a need for them to reach out to their community as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility.”
Aigbedion advised that companies and industries should buy into the compliance programme and imbibe the culture of respecting and obeying laws to sanitise the environment.
Efforts by NAN to get an official of the company to comment on the development failed as he declined to speak.
Public support is crucial if any technology is to be accepted and adopted by those who stand to benefit from it, including modern biotechnology which is relatively new in Nigeria. Etta Michael Bisong, an environmental journalist based in Abuja, writes on the role of the media in strengthening modern biotechnology practices to provide alternative sources of livelihoods in Nigeria.
Crop biotechnology has delivered significant socio-economic and welfare benefits to farmers via increased yield, pest and disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance and enriched nutrient content. Photo credit: agronigeria.com.ng
Many Nigerians no doubt are still uncertain about the meaning of modern biotechnology talk of its revolutionary impact on social development. The level of public awareness about this technology, even though it has been in existence for over two decades, visibly remains low due to lack of appropriate strategies to ensure effective understanding of bioscience communication and its role in fostering growth through biotechnology development in the country.
Science communication, as defined by Gregory and Miller (1998), is a process of generating new, mutually-acceptable knowledge, attitudes and practices. It is a complex but dynamic exchange as disparate groups find a way of sharing common messages and negotiating based on trust that leads to mutual understanding, rather than through statements of authorities or of facts. Therefore, science communication is crucial in promoting an open and transparent debate about the potential risks and benefits of modern biotechnology. This debate guarantees responsible use of the technology and assures stakeholders of having a choice or say in its adoption.
Crop biotechnology, one of the many possible scientific options to improve agricultural productivity, for example, has delivered significant socio-economic and welfare benefits to farmers whether in increased yield, pest and disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, enriched nutrient content, and other quality traits.
About 12 million farmers in 2007 across 23 countries were recorded to have planted biotechnology crops spread across 114.3 million hectares. Of these farmers, 90 percent or 11 million are small and resource-poor farmers from developing countries such as China, India, the Philippines and South Africa.
Nigeria, acknowledging the great benefits associated with this technology, long signed and adopted various international treaties including the Cartagena Protocol on Biodiversity to signify interest and promote the domestication of modern biotechnology development in the country. Well over 70 million farmers in Nigeria are estimated to benefit and reap the significant benefits of agricultural biotechnology similar to economic transformations currently experienced in Brazil, India, Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa.
Food security challenges, empowerment of scientists and research institutes, and consolidation of economic diversification from oil revenue to a more sustainable revenue generation are among other socio-economic gratifications that Nigeria can gain from if modern biotechnology practices are properly integrated into national development initiatives.
However, bioscience like other scientific inventions has positive as well as negative aspects that if not properly regulated can inimically affect the peaceful preservation of biodiversity. Globally, there are two major contenders when the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are usually raised: those in support and against the adoption as well as practice of this technology.
Cases of risks and safety of genetically engineered products mostly in crop breeding have and are still strongly debated by these groups. Issues like political, economic, ethical, cultural and even religious viewpoints have all been raised by these groups in the quest to institutionalise modern biotechnology development.
While proponents believe and subscribe to scientific knowledge in their approach and support for the deployment of this technology, the non-GM campaigners have always built their arguments on sentiments as against facts.
A focus on societal and ethical implications has made the adoption of modern biotechnology and use of GMOs a recurring and contentious public policy issue. As a result, GMOs products have been caught in a maelstrom of controversy which Nigeria is not immune from. This is where the role of the media, both traditional and new, reinforces. Cardinally, the objective of every medium of mass communication is to create shared perception and improve understanding among people to promote common interest.
The global response to these arguments has always centred on the basis of empirical assertions rather than emotional claims. International bodies like the European Food Safety Agency, World Health Organisation, United States Department of Agriculture as well as the African Union (AU) and NEPAD African Biosafety Network of Expertise have, through various empirically tested methods, attested to the safety of modern biotechnology and use of GM products.
For scientists in the field of Biosciences, biosafety remains the answer to the discrepancies sparked by the anti-GM agents. In demonstration of this belief and in fulfilment of the Cartagena Agreement the Federal Government under the reign of former President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2015 passed into law an Act establishing the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to provide regulatory framework, institutional and administrative mechanism for safety measures in the application of modern biotechnology and use of GMOs in Nigeria.
The Act, as described by Rufus Ebegba, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of NBMA, is “the only safety valve in the adoption of modern biotechnology and the deployment and use of GMOs for Nigeria’s national economic development.”
Sir Ebegba, at a press conference organised by Nigeria chapter of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Abuja, stressed the role of media in view of the immerse responsibility of the agency to encourage knowledge based regulatory regime.
“A need to expand biosafety information through the media will give room for factual reporting and build public confidence in adoption of safe GMOs and encourage scientists and others within the sector,” he said.
Also, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) in a recent declaration renewed its commitments, one of which is to work closely with the media to promote the agency’s mandate.
Nigeria’s Biosafety law according to the Director General of NABDA, Professor Lucy Ogbadu, is a monumental delight to all her scientists who jointly participated in systematically making and presenting a convincing case for the enactment of the law.
“We hereby declare our determination to work collectively to improve the communications environment, including the use of latest as well as traditional communication strategies to ensure effectiveness in the deployment of modern biotechnology in Nigeria,” Professor Ogbadu asserted recently in a speech during an inter-agency parley in Abuja.
There are five factors according to Cormick (2007) that affect the acceptance of biotechnology into an environment: information, regulation, consultation, consumer choice, and consumer benefit. Studies from many countries that have ventured into modern biotechnology practice show a general pattern of low public knowledge, distrust on the part of environmental groups, and government’s slow action on regulatory support which is crucial for the technology to thrive. This scenario is compounded by lack of or inaccurate information, misinterpretation or over- simplification of facts.
Consequently, it is important therefore to enhance the capacity of the media in Nigeria to ensure that adequate, science-based information is made available to various stakeholders to help them analyse issues, correct misinformation, and make early and informed decisions regarding modern biotechnology development. Accordingly, actors particularly the government must begin to initiate a multi-stakeholders process or dialogue to develop a bioscience communication road map to evoke public acceptance for biotechnology and in evolving enabling policies.
This plan must be conceptualised such that it converge diverse ideas mostly considering that “no cookie-cutter approach will suffice for developing an approach to understand how to communicate about biotechnology development.”
Thirty-one percent of cactus species are threatened with extinction, according to the first comprehensive, global assessment of the species group by IUCN and partners, published on Monday, October 5, 2015 in the journal Nature Plants. This places cacti among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – more threatened than mammals and birds.
Thirty-one percent of cactus species are threatened with extinction. Photo credit: universofdeals.com
According to the report, cacti are under increasing pressure from human activity, with more than half of the world’s 1,480 cactus species used by people. The illegal trade of live plants and seeds for the horticultural industry and private collections, as well as their unsustainable harvesting are the main threats to cacti, affecting 47% of threatened species.
“These findings are disturbing,” said Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General. “They confirm that the scale of the illegal wildlife trade – including trade in plants – is much greater than we had previously thought, and that wildlife trafficking concerns many more species than the charismatic rhinos and elephants which tend to receive global attention. We must urgently step up international efforts to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and strengthen the implementation of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, if we want to prevent the further decline of these species.”
Other threats to cacti include smallholder livestock ranching affecting 31% of threatened species, and smallholder annual agriculture affecting 24% of threatened species. Residential and commercial development, quarrying and aquaculture – particularly shrimp farming, which expands into cacti’s habitats – are also among major threats faced by these species.
Cacti are key components of New World arid ecosystems and are critical to the survival of many animal species. They provide a source of food and water for many species including deer, woodrats, rabbits, coyotes, turkeys, quails, lizards and tortoises, all of which help with cactus seed dispersal in return. Cactus flowers provide nectar to hummingbirds and bats, as well as bees, moths and other insects, which, in turn, pollinate the plants.
Cactus species are widely used by people in the horticultural trade, as well as for food and for medicine. Their fruit and highly nutritious stems are an important food source for rural communities. The nutritional value of one cactus stem of Opuntia ficus-indica – a ‘prickly pear’ cactus popular in Mexico, where it is known as ‘nopal’ – is often compared to that of a beef steak, and the roots of species such as Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus which is listed as Near Threatened, are used as anti-inflammatories.
Trade in cactus species occurs at national and international levels and is often illegal, with 86% of threatened cacti used in horticulture taken from wild populations. European and Asian collectors are the biggest contributors to the illegal cactus trade. Specimens taken from the wild are particularly sought after due to their rarity.
“The results of this assessment come as a shock to us,” says Barbara Goettsch, lead author of the study and Co-Chair of IUCN’s Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group. “We did not expect cacti to be so highly threatened and for illegal trade to be such an important driver of their decline. Their loss could have far-reaching consequences for the diversity and ecology of arid lands and for local communities dependent on wild-harvested fruit and stems.”
“This study highlights the need for better and more sustainable management of cactus populations within range countries. With the current human population growth, these plants cannot sustain such high levels of collection and habitat loss.”
The illegal trade in cacti has been reduced to a certain extent by the inclusion, since 1975, of most cactus species on CITES appendices and through the increased availability of plants grown from seed on the international market. However, the threat of collection prevails, especially in countries where the implementation of CITES has only recently been enforced.
For example, the once-abundant Echinopsis pampana, endemic to the puna desert of Peru, has been collected illegally for the ornamental plant trade at such high rates that at least 50% of the population has disappeared in the last 15 years. Its loss is irreversible as the areas that were once populated by the species have since undergone land use change for housing purposes. The species is now listed as Endangered.
Cacti are renowned for their diverse forms and beautiful flowers. They are endemic to New World arid lands except for one species, the Mistletoe Cactus (Rhipsalis baccifera), which is also found in southern Africa, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Hotspots for threatened cactus species include arid areas of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. These areas are perceived as uncharismatic and unimportant, even though they are rich in biodiversity, hence arid-land species like cacti are often overlooked in conservation planning. The report’s authors highlight the need to broaden arid land protected area coverage and raise awareness about the importance of sustainable collection of cacti from the wild in order to better conserve the species.
“The startling results reflect the vital importance of funding and conducting assessments of the threatened status of all of the species in major groups of plants, such as the cacti,” says Kevin Gaston, from the University of Exeter, who co-led the Global Cactus Assessment. “Only by so doing will we gain the overall picture of what is happening to them, at a time when, as evidenced by the cacti, they may be under immense human pressures.”
Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) has announced the start-up of production from the Bonga Phase 3 project.
Shell’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli
Andrew Brown, Shell’s Upstream International Director, said: “This new start up is another important milestone for Bonga, adding valuable new production to this major facility.”
Bonga Phase 3 is an expansion of the Bonga Main development, with peak production expected to be some 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent. This will be transported through existing pipelines to the Bonga floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, which has the capacity to produce more than 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas a day.
The Bonga field, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in depths of more than 1,000 metres. Bonga has produced over 600 million barrels of oil to date.
The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo as contractor under a production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which holds the lease for OML 118, in which the Bonga field is located. SNEPCo holds a 55% contractor interest in OML 118. The other co-venturers are Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd (20%), Total E&P Nigeria Ltd (12.5%) and Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd (12.5%).
Work towards a new universal climate change agreement was apparently strengthened on Monday, October 5, 2015 through the issuance of the first comprehensive draft of the agreement.
Co-Chairs Ahmed Djoghlaf (right) and Daniel Reifsnyder. Photo credit: www.npr.org
But experts are expressing fears that a draft agreement is not what is needed right now but a negotiating text.
The Co-Chairs of the Ad hoc working group on the Durban platform (ADP), the body tasked with negotiating the agreement, prepared the draft, which contains the basis for negotiation of the draft Paris climate package. In addition to the agreement, the package contains a draft of the decision that will operationalise the agreement from 2020 and a draft decision on pre-2020 ambition.
The draft of the agreement is a concise basis for negotiations for the next negotiating session from 19-23 October 2015 in Bonn. Co-Chairs Ahmed Djoghlaf of Algeria and Daniel Reifsnyder of the United States prepared the draft in response to a request from countries to have a better basis from which to negotiate.
In a reaction, a source close to Nigeria’s Climate Change Department siad: “Going by the outcome of the last meeting in Bonn, what the world is expecting from the Co-Chairs is a negotiating text, and not a draft agreement.
“The draft is a wrong approach that will delay the decision process by about three days out of the five days we have in Paris.”
According to him, Nigeria’s INDC has been completed, and waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement before its official release and dispatch to the UNFCCC, which pointed out that governments are committed to reaching the new agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris in December this year.
The massive flooding in Plateau State has washed snakes from far distances into farms and residences in Pankshin/Kanke/Kannam Federal Constituency, according to Rep. Timothy Golu.
Along with trees and other hazards, flood waters may contain surprises such as snakes. Photo credit: tomcox.files.wordpress.com
Golu, who represents the area in the House of Representatives, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Joson Sundaythat “all manner of snakes” had taken over his constituency.
He said: “The floods have pushed snakes into my constituency. They move around openly and snake bites have become very common there. As the waters pushed them, some snakes climbed trees, others entered holes, while some just held unto any straw. All of them later descended into residences and farms where they have been wreaking havoc.”
Golu said the commonest species were black mamba and carpet viper.
He said the people now travel to a snake clinic in Zamko, Langtang Local Government Area, but there were no more drugs in the facility.
“The drugs are very expensive and purchasing them had been difficult for the proprietor of the clinic because it was always difficult or outrightly impossible for the patients to pay,” he said.
Golu advised the federal and state governments to take over the production of local drugs to help the generally rural populace that had been the victims of the menace.
He said farmers were being advised to use hand gloves and rain boots at the farms to minimise the effect of such bites, but lamented that many hardly heed the counsel.
The lawmaker said some of the victims had often preferred orthodox therapy, but observed that such therapy had its side effects, with some victims succeeding and surviving, while others die.
Golu asked the Federal Government to resuscitate the production of anti-snake venom so as to ensure massive quantities that would be accessible and available to the people.
He said: “The best step will be to get the snakes’ poison from the affected areas so that the anti-snake venom will work effectively.”
Golu claimed that 26 states were at the risk of snake bites and called for concerted efforts to rid the society of the reptiles.
The opening of the four-day South African International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC) offers African states an opportunity to increase their renewable energy targets and make commitments towards building decentralised energy systems, which could take millions on the continent out of poverty, according to Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo.
Melita Steele, Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager for Greenpeace Africa. Photo credit: LinkedIn
“Countries in Africa have ever-growing energy needs, and in terms of social justice, a key priority must be ensuring energy access to all of Africa’s people. The vision of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050 is indeed possible. Africa can leapfrog dirty development, and instead invest in decentralised renewable energy solutions, putting power back into people’s hands. The African continent is ideally placed to champion a future built on clean renewable energy sources which have the potential to generate millions of the vast number of jobs needed on the continent while stimulating economic growth” said Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director.
The South African International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC), hosted by the South African Department of Energy together with the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) – under the theme RE-energising Africa – will provide a global platform for government ministers, private sector players and civil society, to discuss and exchange their vision, experiences and solutions to accelerate the scale-up of renewable energy in Africa and globally.
“Hosting SAIREC is a key opportunity to strengthen South Africa’s commitment to renewable energy solutions. South Africa’s private renewable energy bidding programme has been praised both domestically and internationally as a world class programme. To date investment in renewable energy has expanded from next to nothing in 2011 to over R44 billion by mid-2015, and renewable energy capacity has grown to 3915MW,” said Melita Steele, Senior Climate and Energy Campaign Manager for Greenpeace Africa.
“While huge strides have been made in South Africa when it comes to creating a thriving renewable energy programme, now is not the time for complacency. Renewable energy is an immediate solution to the current electricity crisis, and in order to fully benefit, the remaining barriers to renewable energy must be removed. Greenpeace believes that the Department of Energy should use SAIREC as a platform to announce more ambitious over-arching renewable energy targets,” continued Steele.
Greenpeace calls on the South African government to recognise the staggering growth that has already begun in the private renewable energy programme, and to aim to massively expand renewable energy investments through removing the remaining barriers.
“In order to create major expansion of rooftop solar, it is time to create an enabling and stable framework, while also removing the artificial caps on investments in renewable energy. Even though the private renewable energy bidding programme has resulted in major growth of the renewable energy sector in South Africa, the bidding process is opaque, expensive, subject to extensive delays, and ad hoc incremental increases which creates uncertainty in the renewable energy sector and effectively puts a cap on renewable energy investments,” noted Steele.
“It is time that South Africa commits to a long-term goal of ensuring that 94% of South Africa’s electricity comes from renewable energy by 2050. The worst outcome from SAIREC would be that this conference becomes nothing more than another talk-shop, with no tangible positive outcomes for South Africa or the African continent,” added Steele.
South Africa becomes the sixth country, and the first in Africa, to host the International Renewable Energy Conference (IREC). Convened by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), IREC is a high-level political conference series hosted by a national government.
While the Department of Energy has been consistently announcing new bidding windows for the country’s private renewable energy programme, all of the current ambitions fall well within the 17800MW of renewable energy that are aimed for by 2030 in the current IRP2010. Greenpeace believes that this target is insufficient to drive investment and growth while combating some of the worst impacts of climate change.
The Development Communications (DevComs) Network / NOTAGAIN Campaign team insists that high maternal and child mortality rate, ineffective implementation of health policies, security threats constituted by maternal deaths, and citizens’ fundamental rights to health are major reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari must invest in maternal health in Nigeria
Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria
Maternal death is one of the daunting consequences of inadequate health care during pregnancies and within 42 days after termination of pregnancy. The mere fact that it can be avoided unlike some public health issues indicates that it could be reduced to the barest minimum if adequate measure is taken.
With the change in administration, leadership style and ideology that greeted Nigeria on May 29 this year, it is still unclear what the future holds for the health sector, particularly maternal and child health, under the new dispensation.
For so long, the investments of government in the health sector have been determined by so many factors, including the willingness of the leaders to prioritise health. This fact has been justified by the percentage of funds allocated to health under the past administrations. Experts have said that increasing budget allocations to health would ensure that more skilled health workers are employed, trained and adequately motivated to attend to citizens accessing their services. It is also believed that the challenges of inadequate health facilities, drugs and commodities are overcome.
Consequently, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would have to learn from the successes, challenges and prospect of maternal health care in Nigeria in order to improve health status of women and children.
In addition, studies have proven that high maternal and child mortality rate, ineffective implementation of health policies, security threats constituted by maternal deaths, and citizens’ fundamental rights to health are major reasons why president Buhari must invest in maternal health in Nigeria.
Nigeria records needless high maternal and child mortality yearly
Nigeria ranks second among countries with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world with about 40,000 deaths and 560 per 100,000 live births according to the 2014 publication of the World Health Organisation titled: “Trends in Maternal Mortality 1990 – 2013“. This means that the country accounts for 14% of global maternal mortality. The chances that a 15 year-old would during pregnancy and child birth in Nigeria is one in 31 compared to Ghana (one in 66) and South Africa (one in 300) who share the same continent with the country.
Similarly, Nigeria’s under-five mortality in 2013 was 804,000 while the under-five mortality rate is 128 deaths per 1,000 live births (NDHS 2013). This also is a far cry from the under-five mortality rate of Ghana (78 per 1000 live births) and South Africa (44 per 1000 live births) according a 2014 report titled: ‘Levels & Trends in Child Mortality’ published by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality.
Failed promises causing Nigerians to lose confidence in health sector
The last 15 years in Nigeria has witnessed the development of several plan, policies and strategies that have not been achieved. One of such plan is the National Strategic Health Development Plan 2010-2015 (NSHDP) which was developed in the year 2010 to last till 2015, with the over-arching goal of improving the health status of Nigerians through the development of a strengthened and sustainable health care delivery system.
The national plan had targeted a maternal mortality ratio of 273 per 100, 000 live births in 2013 and 136 per 100, 000 live births in 2015, which will amount to a one-third reduction in maternal mortality ratio between 2010 and 2015. Similarly, the percentage of federal, state and local government budget allocated to the health sector was anticipated to increase from 5% in 2011 to 15% by 2015.
However, a number of the targets in the NSHDP was not met as the most recent figure given by the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2013 is 576 per 100, 000 live births while the government ’s spending on health has varied from 4% to 9% between 2001 and 2013. The health budget had declined from 6.07% in 2012 to 5.61% in 2013 and rose slightly to 5.67% in 2014.
The consequence of these failed promises is a weak health system which has encouraged the preference of several pregnant women and communities for antenatal care and delivery at homes, religious places and traditional birth attendants’ (TBA) places.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government and State Governments in Nigeria had committed to improve the health status of Nigerians during the Presidential Summit on Health Care held in Abuja on 10th November 2009. The summit which was tagged “Accepting collective responsibility for improving our health in Nigeria occasioned the signing of several targets including; reducing infant mortality rate of 75/1,000 live births and under-five mortality rate of 157/1,000 live births by half by 2015, increasing budget allocations to health at the Federal, State and Local Governments from the baseline level by at least 25% each year towards achieving the Abuja Declaration target of 15%; committing to at least 90% budget release and 100% utilization by the end of the year; reducing maternal mortality ratio by a third (136/100,000 live births) from 545/100,000 live births by 2015; and many other targets which are yet to be achieved.
Maternal death constitute socio-economic losses and security threats
The loss of a mother during or after childbirth deprives a child and other children in the family of basic motherly care and moral education needed by members of a society to behave in an acceptable manner.
A recent study on the consequences of maternal morbidity and maternal mortality published by The National Academies Pressindicated a relationship between maternal death and infant death as well malnutrition among children under five years of age.
Similarly, maternal mortality rate (MMR) has been found to impact negatively on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries in the WHO African region. In a study on “Effects of maternal mortality on gross domestic product (GDP) in the WHO African region” published in year 2006 by African Journal of Health Sciences, the maternal mortality of a single person was found to reduce per capita GDP by US$ 0.36 per year. The study demonstrated that maternal mortality has a statistically significant negative effect on GDP.
“Thus, as policy-makers strive to increase GDP through land reform programs, capital investments, export promotion and increase in educational enrolment, they should always remember that investments in maternal mortality reducing interventions promises significant economic returns.” the authors concluded.
Health care is a constitutional and human right
The chapter II (article) 17(3)(d)) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which refers to the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy requires all organs of government, authorities and persons exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers to ensure adequate medical and health facilities for all persons in Nigeria.
In view of this, many experts have likened the right to health to fundamental human rights, which are said to be justiciable rights and guaranteed by the constitution of Nigeria. The United Nations in 1987 described human rights as those rights ‘which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot function as human beings’.
The right to quality health (including maternal health) is also an important obligation of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because the country has ratified international laws and instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), The Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other regional treaties like The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Thus, most needless deaths of women and children would be avoided if the government is responsive and provides adequate and affordable maternal and child health care through sufficient, motivated and skilled health workers. This can only be achieved when the health sector is sufficiently funded according to international standards such as the 15% specified by the African Union Head of States during the Abuja Declaration of April 2001 held in Abuja.
In addition, community and religious leaders must do more in mobilizing pregnant women and mothers to attend healthcare provided by skilled health workers. There is a need for training and retraining of health care providers as most women who attend antenatal and failed to deliver in the hospital have claimed poor attitude of health workers was among the factors responsible for their actions. More importantly, there is a need for improved public-private partnership in the health sector with the aim of increasing access to maternal and health care in Nigeria.
